With the rising cost of energy, efforts have been made to provide homes and other buildings with insulation which will more efficiently prevent the loss of heat to the outside. Modem building techniques include the installation of a vapor barrier in the walls of homes or other buildings.
The vapor barrier contains warm, moist air inside the building. If warm air from inside the building penetrates the vapor barrier, moisture from this air may condense inside the walls and ceilings of the building. This condensed moisture can promote mold growth and cause building materials to degrade. The loss of warm air from the inside of the building to the outside of the building also increases the cost of heating the structure.
When mounting speakers, keypads and other low voltage electronic devices in the wall or ceiling of a house or other building it is desirable to protect the low voltage devices from exposure to dirt, debris from building materials and other substances which may cause these devices to deteriorate. Installers who place low-voltage electronic devices in the walls of structures often use standard building materials to fabricate a "custom-built" enclosure at the installation site. To comply with modem building requirements, these custom-built enclosures must be substantially impervious to warm, moist air, and they must be sealingly connected to the existing vapor barrier of the structure. A great deal of skill is required to assemble an enclosure at a work site which will accomplish these goals. Even when an installer is highly skilled, this task is very time consuming.